Just wanted to let you know that this rich, deep paleo chocolate avocado cake with coconut flour is sponsored by my friends over at Enjoy Life Foods!
Paleo Chocolate Avocado Cake with Coconut Flour is the BEST healthy cake! SO fluffy and moist you’ll never believe it’s butter and oil free!
Is there really anything better than that moment where Mom let you lick the beaters after she made frosting as a child?
And, liiike, since we’re adults and can make our own life choices, we get to lick the beaters WHENEVER we want. We could even make a bowl of just keto chocolate frosting and call it dinner if we so pleased.
Which – spoiler alert – you’re going to want to do when the CREAMY swirls of the RICH, deep and INTENSE chocolate ganache, crowning the top of this FLUFFY chocolate cake, dance across your taste buds.
Internet friends, I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves though. While I love a good bowl of frosting situation, it’s probably the wisest life-choice to actually have something to put aforementioned bowl of frosting on, don’t you think? And this gluten and dairy free chocolate cake is IT.
I know. You’re already questioning the avocado. But, remember the paleo German chocolate cake? I promise you, it WORKS.
Why this is the BEST Chocolate Cake Ever
I am all about chocolate desserts because hey, life is short! You can even make desserts with better-for-you ingredients so that you get all the taste, all the sweetness, and ALL the protein and healthy fats too! Some of my fave desserts that include chocolate here on the blog are healthy chocolate chip muffins with cream cheese filling and, of course, healthy avocado chocolate truffles! Today’s chocolate avocado cake recipe takes traditional chocolate cake to the next level! It’s SUPER moist, perfectly sweet, and has ALL the chocolatey goodness you’re looking for in a cake, but it’s also healthy! That’s right- this cake recipe uses natural sweeteners and healthy fats to create such an indulgent and delicious dessert that you and your crew are going to love! You can even swap out the eggs for a flax egg to make it vegan chocolate cake avocado if you want! I bet you could even cut it in half and make it in the Instant Pot just like my Instant Pot chocolate cake if you got really crazy.
Ingredients Needed
To make this rich and delectable avocado chocolate cake, I swapped out some of the typical ingredients used to make a cake to make a healthy cake recipe! Here’s what you’ll need to gather before we get baking:
- Very ripe avocado
- Full fat coconut milk
- Coconut sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Coconut Flour
- Tapioca Starch
- Cocoa Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Enjoy Life Foods Semi-Sweet Mega Chunks
- Honey
- Enjoy Life Foods Dark Chocolate Morsels
How to make Avocado Chocolate Cake
Prepare
Turn on the oven and allow it to preheat while you work. Line 3 cake pans with parchment and rub the sides with oil. Set aside.
Blend
In a food processor, blend the avocado and coconut milk until smooth and place into a large bowl. Add in the coconut sugar, egg yolks and vanilla and beat with an electric hand mixer until thoroughly combined.
Mix
In a separate bowl, mix together the coconut flour, tapioca starch, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt with a wire whisk until combined. Add the dry mixture into the wet mixture and blend on low speed until everything is well incorporated. Carefully fold in the chopped chocolate.
Beat
Clean your beater thoroughly and then use them to beat the egg whites in a small bowl until they form stiff peaks. Gently and slowly gold them into the batter.
Bake
Divide the healthy chocolate cake batter between the three prepared pans and place them in the oven. Bake your cakes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting with ganache!
Top Tips for making Chocolate Cake
- Pick Ripe Avocados: You will want to make sure your avocados are VERY ripe as it will be much easier to blend them to a smooth consistency!
- Weigh the flour: The BEST results in baking are achieved when the measurements are precise. I recommend weighing your flour!
- Use room temperature eggs: Eggs bake better in cake when they are room temperature, as it doesn’t cool the batter down so that everything bakes evenly.
How to store Chocolate Cake
If you have any leftovers of this decadent and delicious cake, I recommend storing it in the fridge. It’ll do best when kept in an airtight container or covered tightly with plastic wrap and will last up to 3 days this way.
How to freeze Chocolate Cake
This cake freezes fantastically! I recommend slicing it into portion sizes and wrapping them tightly in plastic wrap, then placing them into a freezer style zip lock bag. They will last well in the freezer for up to 3 months this way!
Chocolate Cake FAQ
Avocado is a healthy fat that can help replace other fats such as butter when baking. It brings fat, flavor, moisture, and richness to baked goods!
No, not at all! The avocado simply brings richness and fat to enhance the texture of the cake but the finished result will not taste like avocados one bit.
Coconut flour is very different from all other flours, so I do not recommend substituting it for any other flour in this recipe.
In this recipe, cornstarch should work as long as you substitute it by weight.
Chocolate cake for the SOUL.
Other Recipes You Might Like:
Healthy Chocolate Chip Avocado Cookies
Strawberry Gluten Free Chocolate Cake for Two
Coconut Flour Chocolate Paleo Mug Cake
Raspberry Paleo Coconut Oil Fudge
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 1/2 Cups VERY ripe avocado, mashed (360g)
- 3/4 Cup Full fat coconut milk
- 1 1/2 Cups Coconut sugar
- 9 Eggs, separated (at room temperature)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Vanilla
- 1 Cup + 2 Tbsp Coconut flour, sifted (99g) *
- 1 Cup + 2 Tbsp Tapioca starch (135g)
- 3/4 Cup Cocoa powder (make sure its not lumpy)
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp Salt
- 6 Oz Enjoy Life Foods Semi-Sweet Mega Chunks, Finely chopped
For the ganache: **
- 1 1/2 Cups Full-fat coconut milk
- 3 Tbsp Honey
- 12 Oz Enjoy Life Foods Dark Chocolate Morsels
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 3 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper on the bottom, rubbing the sides generously with coconut oil.
- Place the avocado and coconut milk into a food processor (I used a small, 3-cup one) and blend until VERY smooth. Place into a large bowl.
- Add in the coconut sugar, egg yolks (make sure the whites are in a separate bowl) and vanilla and beat, using an electric hand mixer, until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, tapioca starch, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add it into the wet ingredients and blend on low speed until combined. Fold in the chopped chocolate.
- Clean the beaters off VERY well and beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, about 5-6 minutes. Fold them into the batter a little bit at a time, very gently. You want no white streaks to remain.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Let cool COMPLETELY before frosting.
To make the frosting:
- While the cake bakes, pour the coconut milk and honey in a large pot and set it on medium heat. When the milk looks like it is JUST about to boil (do not let it boil) remove from the heat and add in chocolate morsels. Let stand for 30 seconds, without stirring the chocolate.
- After 30 seconds are up, gently whisk the chocolate into the milk until it's smooth and well combined. Pour into a bowl, cover the top with saran (allowing the saran to stick right to the chocolate so it doesn't develop a skin in the refrigerator) refrigerate until it's cool to the touch, but still a little bit liquid - about 1-2 hours.
- Once the frosting is cooled, use an electric hand mixer to whip it until it just begins to lighten in color and just holds its shape - only 30 seconds or so. It thickens up quickly! If it thickens too much, you can always pop it in the microwave for a few seconds.
To assemble:
- Place your cake bottom-side up on a pedestal. Spread a lightly heaping 1/2 cup of the ganache on top and repeat with a second layer (using an offset spatula will help A LOT!)
- Place the final layer on top and spread a thin coat of ganache all over the cake - this is the crumb coat. Refrigerate until the crumb coat feels set, about 30 minutes.
- Spread the remainder of the ganache all over the cake.
- Slice and DEVOUR!
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Info:
Recipes written and produced on Food Faith Fitness are for informational purposes only.
FOR THIS RECIPE, I RECOMMEND:
THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY MY FRIENDS AT ENJOY LIFE FOODS. THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO CONTINUE CREATING GREAT CONTENT FOR YOU BY SUPPORTING PARTNERSHIPS WITH SUPER-FAB BRANDS THAT FOOD FAITH FITNESS LOVES TO WORK WITH! AS ALWAYS, OPINIONS REMAIN 100% MY OWN!
Stay in touch with Enjoy Life Foods on social media for more delicious ideas! Facebook/Twitter/Instagram
(per 1 slice, based off the cake making 12 slices)
STAY IN DA KNOW WITH THINGS GOING ON AT FFF (AND GET SPECIAL BEHIND-THE-SCENES INFO) BY FOLLOWING ALONG ON PINTEREST, FACEBOOK AND TWITTER!
This post may contain affiliate links, but I only recommend products that I actually use and <3. Thanks for supporting FFF!
Suzie says
What type of coconut milk is used? Canned? Sweetened or unsweetened? Thank you.
Taylor Kiser says
Unsweetened canned!
Jess Forgan says
I am just wondering if you can do this with 2 cake pans, as that’s all I have. LOL! Please let me know – I can’t wait to make it! Thanks so much!
Taylor Kiser says
Hi! I haven’t tried. I’m sure you can, but it will change the cooking time!
Meg Hudson says
For the gonache could I use maple syrup instead of honey? I’m making it for someone who is allergic to honey. If not, do you know anything I could substitute? Thank you!
Taylor Kiser says
Can they do agave? That would be a better option as they taste similar!
Nicole Crubaugh says
Are the nutrition facts listed for the entire cake or one slice?
Thank you for the clarification.
Taylor Kiser says
One slice.
Bailey Blake says
This seriously is the best chocolate cake recipe I’ve tried. (And I should mention I’ve tried many)Just made it for my dad’s birthday last night, as chocolate cake is his favorite, and we were all in heaven! Thank you for such a stellar recipe!
Taylor Kiser says
YAY!! I am so happy! Thank you for telling me!
Audrey says
I know it says use very ripe avocados, but would it still work if they are still kinda green?
Taylor Kiser says
Ripe avocados are green 🙂 They need to be green and very soft
Heidi says
How do you do the drip part? Seems like it would have to be a different recipe from the ganache to have the drip effect.
Taylor Kiser says
Nope it’s not – it’s the same recipe! If you watch a youtube video it’ll explain it a lot better than I could with writing!
Heidi says
I’m not seeing the youtube video? Do you have a link?
Taylor Kiser says
No I mean just look yourself on Youtube 🙂 There are TONS of tutorials!
Lauren Deneen says
This is the most amazing, moist, delicious cake EVER! It is now my go to cake. I made the cake a couple of days ahead and wrapped it well in plastic wrap. The ganache filling and icing I also made a couple of days ahead and softened a little in the microwave until spreadable.
Taylor Kiser says
YAY! I’m so glad you liked it!
Lauren Deneen says
Have you made half of the recipe for a smaller cake? I made it last week for the second time full recipe. It is a big cake and fabulous but this time I would like a smaller version.
Thanks
Taylor Kiser says
I haven’t! Sorry!
Jessica Walker says
Getting my period after having just started my new paleo lifestyle committment was killing me, so I frantically looked for something to address my chocolate cravings. This recipie DELIVERED! You are a brilliant and crafty woman and I cannot wait to try more recipies from your site. I had to share a slice with everyone I know, boasting, “it’s paleo”. Thank you for saving my boyfriend from the ravages of a hungry woman on her period.
Taylor Kiser says
HAHAHAHAHAHA I love this comment!!!! Thank you!!